Biannual Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award goes to Robert Stephen in 2010
With a unique summer mentorship and performance program for emerging professional ballet dancers, original choreography is at the heart of dance at The Banff Centre. This year, the Centre introduces a new opportunity for established choreographers, the Koerner Foundation Distinguished Guest Artist in Choreography. In 2010, the first Koerner Award goes to groundbreaking dancer and choreographer Kevin O’Day.
O’Day was collaboratively chosen by the artistic directors of companies participating in the Centre’s Professional Dance program, including Karen Kain at the National Ballet of Canada, Gradimir Pankov of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Andre Lewis of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Jean Grand-maitre of Alberta Ballet, Ballet B.C.’s Emily Molnar, Bengt Jürgen of Ballet Jürgen, and Mikko Nissinen of Boston Ballet. O’Day will create a new work, which will premiere in July at the 2010 Banff Summer Arts Festival, and will also be part of the 2010 - 2011 season of Ballet B.C., and Ballett Mannheim, Germany.
“Kevin O’Day’s participation in the program will give the dancers the opportunity to work with a choreographer whose ability to draw on all the great streams of 20th and 21st century choreography illuminates the concept of synergy in a uniquely successful way,” says Lindsay Fischer, director of Professional Dance at The Banff Centre. “The idea of using the broadest possible range of influences to create a personal artistic statement is fundamental to the Banff experience, and I am very glad the dancers will be able to see this concept realized through their work with Kevin.”
The Koerner Foundation Distinguished Guest Artist in Choreography was established by The Koerner Foundation to enhance not only the repertoire of The Banff Centre and commissioning companies with new original work by outstanding artists, but also to build on the training opportunities for young professional dancers, exposing them to the creative process of originating work by a sought-after choreographer. It’s a creative form that Michael Koerner of the Koerner Foundation has supported previously, with an artist-in-residence program at Queen’s University, now in its ninth year, and a composer-in-residence program at the University of Toronto’s School of Music.
This new award complements The Banff Centre’s Clifford E. Lee Award in choreography, currently given biannually to an emerging Canadian choreographer. The 2010 recipient, Robert Stephen, will travel to Banff this year to begin work on his Lee Award commission, and will premiere the work at the 2011 Banff Summer Arts Festival. Currently a second soloist with the National Ballet of Canada, Stephen has recently danced in original roles created for the National Ballet by former Lee Award recipients, including Peter Quanz, Crystal Pite, and Sabrina Matthew.
This year, Kevin O’Day’s original work will premiere as part of the Dance Masters performances at the 2010 Banff Summer Arts Festival, July 20 to 24. Each gala performance will also include work by Jirí Kylián and George Balanchine.
Kevin O’Day
Currently artistic director of Ballett Mannheim in Mannheim, Germany, Kevin O’Day trained with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. He joined the Joffrey Ballet, and began performing with Twyla Tharp in 1984. From 1988 to 1991, he was a soloist with American Ballet Theatre, and from 1992 to 1995 he danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, and as a guest dancer with the New York City Ballet. After making his choreographic debut in 1994 with White Oak, O’Day has since choreographed more than 30 original works for companies including the New York City Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Stuttgart Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet.
The Koerner Foundation
Established in Toronto in 1985, The Koerner Foundation is a private foundation supporting charitable purposes in Ontario and British Columbia, including institutions of higher learning, cultural institutions, and hospitals. Michael Koerner and his wife Sonja have made important contributions to Canadian art and culture over the past 40 years with contributions to organizations, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sunnybrook Hospital, Shaw Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of British Columbia and its Museum of Anthropology.
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